The Beginning

Me and Mary Lou

Well, there I was, it was June, 2008, and I was anxiously counting down the days to my retirement, when the recession started to take hold with a thunder!  The housing market was beginning to tank, banks were in trouble and people were in trouble, as they were being laid off by their employers by the thousands.  Now I'm having second thoughts about this retirement thing.  I wanted to have more time to enjoy my grandkids and family.  I didn't want to wind up like my mother, who worked her entire life and finally retired at the age of 72, only to be diagnosed with colon cancer a few months after retirement and died two years later.  The vacation to Austria was never to be.  So I did what any other sane, intelligent woman would do in such a perplexing situation...I called my best friend!  Mary Lou is like a therapist...she'll never tell you what to do, just ask you some questions and then let you figure it out, which will always lead you to the answer you were looking for.  When I told her of my fears, she simply said "do what is in your heart".  That was it. Done.  And so it was.  I continued with the countdown, until there were no more days to cross off the calendar and had the biggest, happiest, celebration ever, with all my family and friends joining me!  What a night!

Some of my co-workers

Son Gregg & nephew Andy